Self Assessment
Assessing posture, range of motion and
strength to figure out what self-care you need
Design Self-Care 4 Self-Repair Based On Your Bodies Needs
Take your self-repair to the next level and create your own self-care plan using these self assessment videos to guide you.
We begin with a series of specialised tests to indicate which parts of your body are in most need of treatment.
Strength tests are also recorded and just a bit of editing away from release.
Remember that all your stretches act as tests. If you can’t get to a decent range with your stretch, then add that stretch to your repertoire and don’t forget to give that muscle a good helping of self massage with your foam roller and massage ball.
Welcome to the self assessment section.
Not all exercises indicated in these videos are currently available, but rest assured they will be!
This is a nice easy test that will check out how tight your chest is.
It you cannot get your arms flat beside your head, stretch out and self massage your chest. You should also look at strengthening your upper/mid back and correcting any upper body posture issues you find.
This test is another that assesses how tight you are in the chest and if your arms turn inwards.
As per usual with any tests indicating chest tightness, stretch and self massage the chest, perform the upper body posture corrections and strengthen your back.
This test assesses the ability to reach up behind your back. You may struggle to complete this test if you are short in the muscles of your chest, the back of your shoulder joint or supraspinatus/middle traps on the top of your shoulder.
Work on the chest, top of the shoulder and the back of the shoulder/outside edge of the shoulder blade with stretching and self massage.
Strengthening and improving your posture with the anatomical man upper chain activation’s will also help.
Beware of pain in your shoulder joint/rotator cuff, this may indicate a number of joint diseases. It is best to have this assessed prior to self-care.
This test assesses your ability to reach over your shoulder and touch your upper back.
If you have difficulty completing this test, you may have shortness in the muscles of the mid and upper back, the shoulder blade and the triceps.
Work on these muscles with a combination of stretching and self massage. Also use shoulder mobility exercises to keep your shoulder joints moving.
Beware of pain in your shoulder joint/rotator cuff, this may indicate a number of joint diseases. It is best to have this assessed prior to self-care.
This test is used to assess the length of your lats (latissimus dorsi).
If your lower back arches, you can’t get your arms overhead or your head pushes forward during this test, you need to stretch out and foam roll your lats.
This is the best test to see how well you can extend (bend backwards) through your upper back. This is very important because so many of us drive, sit at computers and bend forward, causing us to loose our thoracic (upper back) extension which can lead to damaging our shoulders.
If you cannot complete this test because you cannot get your arms up overhead or your head juts forward, jump on your foam roller and work of doing upper back rolling and thoracic extension. Work up through prone cobra stretches and back extensions to strengthen your back.
Its funny when you get in front of the camera and forget your left from your right!
This test will check how well you can rotate through your upper back, a movement that is very lacking in many of my clients – even me!
If you find it difficult to complete this test, try out the croc (thoracic rotation) stretch, the four point kneeling thoracic rotations and the foam roller thoracic extensions.
Use this wall test to assess your lower back and neck posture. There are a few things that can be problematic if you cannot pass this test, so check the additional tests indicated.
To pass the lower back part of this test, you should be able to core activate and flatten your back onto your hands whilst standing and having your heels, hips, upper back and head on the wall.
– If you cannot pass this test, check your core strength (core strength tests) and for shortness in your quads and hip flexors (Quad and hip flexor stretch test)
– Work on your core strength and/or stretch and self massage your quads and hip flexors (Psoas release)
To pass the neck and upper back portion of this test you need to create a 2 finger space behind your neck by tucking your chin in and lifting your chest, while your heels, hips, upper back and head are in contact with the wall.
– If you cannot pass this test check your neck range of motion (all neck stretches) and your upper back mobility (Y-squat, overhead reach, prone cobra)
– Work on your neck flexibility and mobility, also work on your upper back mobility with upper back rolling and thoracic extensions.
This test assesses your ability to complete the upper body portion of the wall test while holding your arms on the wall in a “goal posts” position (abduction and outward rotation)
If you cannot get you arms into the required position, then you may be tight in the chest, shoulder inward rotators and the lats.
Release your chest with chest, front of shoulders and lats with stretching and self massage, also look at the back strengthening exercises (swimmers stop sign holds, prone cobra, band rows) to strengthen your back and the back of your shoulders.
Beware of pain in your shoulder joint/rotator cuff, this may indicate a number of joint diseases. It is best to have this assessed prior to self-care.
Now here is a test that a lot of people are going to struggle with.
Tension of the quads and hip flexors is a major contributor to lower back pain, so don’t skip this one!
If you struggle with either of these tests, release the quads and hip flexors with stretching and self massage. You should also check out your core strength and look to strengthen your core and/or glutes if they are weak
This stretch test how long piriforis is, its i muscle in your glutes (backside) that can cause all sorts of tight glute sensations and even cause siatica type pain.
If you cannot drop your feet out so that your legs get to 45 degrees, do the piriformis stretch and get your massage ball/foam roller into those glutes
It’s time to check out how long those hamstrings are!
Many client’s of mine complain about being tight in the hammies, but when i check them, they can get to full length. To me this says that they aren’t the main problem.
See how you go, if you can get to 90 degrees with both legs straight, great! If not, self massage and stretch out those hamstrings.
Check this out to learn why you should assess your core and balance.
This test is very easy, stand on one leg and see how long you can last before putting you other foot down.
If you cant stay on one leg for at least 30 seconds, you need to work on your balance by repeating this activity daily. All of the lower chain exercises in the anatomical man exercise series will help you strengthen your feet, hips and legs to help improve your balance.
I show this in a high knee position, but you could do this in any position, you could have the raised behind you, you could drop into a semi-lunge/running position, you could lean towards one side. It really depends on what positions you need to get into based on your work/sports/physical activities that you do regularly.
This is a special test to assess if we can keep our hips level when standing on one leg.
We test this by placing our hands flat across the top of out hips (on the illiac crest). Watch yourself in a mirror (or get a friend to watch). Lift one leg off the ground and pay attention to your hand position. If you lift your leg and that sides hand drops, and your hips shift across to the other side, that is a positive result.
If you get a positive result then the muscles in the side of your hip (gluteus minimus and medius) are weak and need to be strengthened. Check out the clams, side hip abduction and 1 legged balance strength videos to correct this.
Let’s see how strong your core is.
The first step to testing your core is to check out the core activation videos in the foundation strength video series to ensure you understand how to activate your core properly. Once you can we can see how strong it is.
Work through the 3 tests and stop at the test that you cannot pass. From here you can spend a week or so at the previous level to build up strength, or stay at the level you failed to pass and slowly build up your reps.
Remember that keeping activated and in correct alignment with pressure on your hands is very important. Its fine to progress to a more difficult level but not at the expense of correct form, unless you want to increase the risk of injury!?
Here it is, the hardest of the laying core tests. The level 4 straight leg drop test.
Try this only after completing the level 1-3 core strength tests.
If you can pass this test and get your heels almost to the floor, then it is time to get up off the floor and use that core. Get into balance exercises and big lower body exercises like squats and lunges to continue strengthening your lower body.
The prone cobra tests your ability to extend through your mid back. Make sure that you are bending through your mid back and not your lower back.
Make sure you get those arms rotated outward into the proper position.
Exercises to help you improve at this test include doing reps of the prone cobra and most forms of seated and standing rowing exercises.
If you cannot get into the correct position because you cannot extend through your mid back, try out the foam rolling back and thoracic extension activities.
Lets give that core a good test out!
When doing any plank exercises make sure you engage that core, keep your pelvis neutral so you don’t place excessive pressure into your lower back.
If you struggle here or haven’t learnt how to activate your core, head on into the foundation strength exercises and rock out the core activation exercises until you have at least level 3 down. Easy as!
This test will assess how strong the muscles are in the sides of your body. Particularly those that stabilise your core, side of hip and shoulder.
Follow the instructions in this video, if you have trouble achieving a 30 second hold you should be able to figure out if it is your core/hip that is fatiguing or your shoulder.
If it is your shoulder you will need to complete a range of shoulder strengthening exercises which will be available in the near future. If it is your core that is failing you then this test is the exercise that you need, get to repeating the side plank and throw in some clams and side hip abductions for good measure.
